Silas

The name Silas is a boy's name of English, Latin origin meaning "wood, forest". Silas is based on the name Silvanus, and the two are used interchangeably in the Bible. In the New Testament, St. Silas was a leading member of the early Christian community who accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. Sylvanus was the Roman god of trees and his name was originally bestowed on people who lived in wooded areas or who worked with wood. Silas, once a folksy-sounding, rural New Testament boy name associated with George Eliot's Silas Marner, is definitely beginning to be reevaluated, a la similar flavored Caleb and Linus, and becoming a hot Emma fave. Silas is also associated with the indelible albino monk in The Da Vinci Code, is the leading character in William D. Howell's novel The Rise and Fall of Silas Lapham, and was the name of Nancy Botwin's TV son in Weeds.